The waiting area looks like that of any doctor’s office, with
magazines, television and water cooler, but those who come through
the doors of Arizona Compassionate Alternatives seek treatment that
is unorthodox.

It has become less so since Arizona voters in November made
medical marijuana state law. However, amid police raids, lawsuits
and federal memos, many of the clinic’s 85 visitors this month have
had questions concerning the legality of the treatment they
seek.

“There’s been a lot of misinformation,” said Judy Spillman,
manager of Arizona Compassionate Alternatives, whose two doctors
determine whether patients qualify for use under guidelines in the
Arizona Medical Marijuana Act.

Under the law, those with a patient registration card issued by
the state Department of Health Services can legally possess up to
2.5 ounces of marijuana.

However, Gov. Jan Brewer and Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne
filed suit in U.S. District Court in May, citing concerns about
exposing state employees who oversee the medical marijuana program
to potential federal prosecution. Marijuana possession remains
illegal under federal law.

As a result, the state is not processing applications for
dispensaries, where patients could acquire marijuana.

Last week, Maricopa County became a co-plaintiff in the
suit.

“We are in an odd period now,” said Jerry Cobb, spokesman for
Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery. “The law has been
approved, the policy argument is over because the voters have
spoken. Our office respects that. We’re not trying to change what
voters have approved, but we have a responsibility to make sure
that the county is not exposed to additional liability.”

Seventeen states and the District of Columbia have legalized
medical marijuana. In 1996, California became the first state to
enact such a law, and medical marijuana has evolved into a
billion-dollar industry in that state.

Kris Hermes, spokesman for Americans For Safe Access, said that
a “culture of resistance” to medical marijuana exists among law
enforcement, even in states where it has been legalized.

In June, Gilbert police conducted raids on the home of a
registered medical marijuana patient and the Tempe office of an
advocacy group.

Medical marijuana supporters were jolted by a June memo by U.S.
Deputy Attorney General James Cole stating that state laws “are not
a defense” from federal action. Congress has labeled marijuana a
“dangerous drug” whose distribution is a “serious crime,” the memo
reads.

“Local law enforcement seems to be stuck in a decades-old drug
war whose casualties really are people who are using for medical
reasons,” Hermes said.

“It doesn’t help when the federal government positions itself in
this arena by saying it doesn’t respect even laws that are passed
by the people or state legislatures. That sort of emboldens local
law enforcement all over again to resist upholding them.”

Under Article VI of the Constitution, federal law supersedes
state law. But Tucson-based attorney Jenne Sandy Forbes said she
does not think medical marijuana patients in Arizona will be
prosecution targets.

“In its suit, states seems to be asking for an advisory opinion
— if we do this, will our people be violating federal law? Frankly,
they probably would be,” Forbes said.

“My sense with the feds and the (Cole memo) that have been sent
out is that they aren’t interested in going after individual
marijuana users for medical purposes. I think they’re more
interested in large growers. I don’t know if that includes
dispensaries licensed under the new statute, but it certainly
could. The dispensaries in California have been up and running, and
the feds don’t seem terribly interested in shutting them down.”

In a May letter to Arizona Department of Health Services
Director Will Humble, Dennis Burke, the U.S. attorney for Arizona,
reiterated that marijuana is illegal under U.S. law but echoed
recent stated policy of not focusing limited resources on those
using the drug for medically recommended treatment.

“What his letter said is that while people complying with the
state law are not a priority for this office, we can’t provide
haven from prosecution because marijuana is still illegal under
federal law,” U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman Robbie Sherwood
wrote in an email to the Tribune. “Mr. Burke has since reiterated
that he has no intention of going after state employees; in fact,
his letter doesn’t indicate an effort to go after anybody.”

So where does that leave the thousands of Arizonans who have
been issued patient registration cards since April?

With dispensaries not an option, advocates have seized on a part
of the law stating that “qualified patients” can provide marijuana
to one another if “nothing of value is transferred in return.”

The Arizona Compassion Club — a self-described “network of
patients assisting patients” — has three locations in the Valley,
including one in the same Tempe complex as Arizona Compassionate
Alternatives.

Spillman said that, if a patient qualifies under the law, her
clinic will help with the filing of state paperwork and provide
referrals of providers, including the Arizona Compassion Club.

“The dispensary portion of the law is on hold, for better or
worse, but I don’t think it’s limiting patient access,” Spillman
said.

Cobb said that the county attorney has not received cases
involving registered patients possessing a legal amount of medical
marijuana. He added that some cardholders have been charged with
related crimes.

But federal law could continue to make the medical marijuana
issue hazy.

“That’s why you’re seeing states sue to get clarification from
federal court,” Cobb said. “The confusion stems from policy as
opposed to law. The federal administration has said that its policy
is not to go after medical marijuana patients, but that can change
with a new administration, or it could change if the current
administration chooses.”